Part-time Contractor (School Improvement)

Job Title
Part-time Contractor (School Improvement)
Job ID
27392971
Description

Overview of Contractor Pool: Part-time/project- based work

Our school improvement team works with state education agencies, local education agencies (LEAs), and schools to provide diagnostics and program evaluation, facilitate strategic planning, and coach leaders through the implementation stages and monitoring of some plans. At this time, our school improvement team seeks a to build a robust pool of experienced, dependable, collaborative, and equity-focused contractors to work with us on a part-time basis when projects exceed our available capacity, and/or when a specific project requires specific expertise. Candidates who are selected to be part of the pool will be contacted when assignments that match with their skills, abilities, and experience become available. Assignments will vary in length, and work through the contractor pool is not guaranteed

Contractors work directly with Mass Insight staff and partners, reporting to a full-time Mass Insight staff member.

While the Mass Insight office is located in Boston, Mass Insight staff and contractors live all over the country. Mass Insight staff travel to partner sites on a regular basis (though travel is suspended as of April 2020 due to the public health crisis).

Qualifications

Mass Insight has identified a set of Core Competencies that it expects to see in all staff members and collaborators.  Candidates wishing to be added to the contractor pool should demonstrate competence in each of the following areas at the level described:

Core Competencies

Baseline Expectations

Champions Our theory of action

  • Understands how our theory of action informs our work
  • Organizes work assigned in alignment to our theory of action

Believes in and grows people

  • Demonstrates resilience in the face of challenge
  • Establishes clear expectations for staff and provides needed support

Promotes Diversity, Equity, and Inclusiveness

  • Seeks out, values, and responds to different culture and context—including perspectives and experiences different from one’s own
  • Understands, anticipates, and plans for the ways that culture and identity impact our work with both partners and other Mass Insight staff
  • Helps build cultural awareness in other staff
  • Prioritizes diversity, equity, and inclusiveness as part of work assigned

Establishes partner trust

  • Builds relationships with key members of partner team to advance the work
  • Able to authentically describe the challenges facing partners 
  • Demonstrates cross-cultural agility by establishing strong relationships and ensuring success in a variety of settings

Manages projects to impact in spite of ambiguity

  • Gets the required work done, even when there are grey areas and obstacles
  • Supports Mass Insight and partners in maintaining a focus on the work in spite of distractions
  • Is able to adjust work and project schedule and milestones in response to changing expectations and context

Effectively Works as a Team Player

  • Builds and supports a cohesive team to accomplish project goals
  • Operates with self-awareness and maintains perspective to support the team
  • Takes responsibility for addressing team challenges
  • Makes realistic commitments and honors them, on the agreed upon timelines

Solves Complex Problems Systematically

  • Collects and organizes data and other evidence in ways that facilitate problem solving  
  • Builds strong project plans that meet project needs
  • Demonstrates understanding of contextual factors that influence partner success
  • Provides strong solutions to discreet problems within a project

Continuously Builds Both Education & Specific Subject Matter Expertise

  • Brings and continuously grows both education and specific subject matter expertise within the education field
  • Facilitates learning of both partner and Mass Insight staff

Communicates Effectively

  • Presents information to partners and Mass Insight colleagues in a clear and concise manner, both written and oral
  • Demonstrates active listening skills that demonstrate empathy and understanding
  • Matches communication style to the context and need

Facilitates Effectively

  • Uses a variety of facilitation tools and protocols to engage groups in learning, problem-solving, decision-making, and action-planning

In addition to demonstrating the core competencies described above, a contractor must have a bachelor’s degree. Additional relevant education is preferred but not required.

While the Mass Insight office is located in Boston, Mass Insight staff and contractors live all over the country. Mass Insight staff travel to partner sites on a regular basis (though travel is suspended as of April 2020 due to the public health crisis).                                                                                                                         

Process for Being Added to Contractor Pool

  1. Submit your application including your resume and a cover letter that describes your interest and qualifications 
  2. If your cover letter and resume suggest a strong potential match, you will be asked to complete a 90-minute hiring exercise
  3. If your hiring exercise is completed satisfactorily, we will invite you to participate in a one-hour interview
  4. If your interview is satisfactory, you will be added to our contractor pool
  5. For any particular project we reserve the right to require a combination of any/all of the following:
    • Specific onboarding (example half-day online module for conducting comprehensive needs assessments of schools)
    • Interview with the project lead
    • Project-specific hiring exercise (usually a 1-2 hour independent project designed to assess skill in a particular line of work)

 

About Mass Insight

Mass Insight Education & Research is a Boston-based nonprofit serving schools and districts nationwide. Our mission is to provide leadership in closing achievement and opportunity gaps for underserved students by focusing on system transformation and student academic success. Mass Insight is a leader in education reform, providing academic programs, research, and strategic consulting services across the United States. We take a design-based approach to implementing our theory of action by building networks, coherence, and capacity in order to make learning rigorous for all students.

We seek to dramatically improve student achievement at scale by transforming state and local education systems, structures, and policies. We also work directly with schools and districts to develop, implement and assess plans to improve school and district performance. Mi organizes its work around our theory of action for improving schools:

 

 

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